As flat-panel displays that have achieved a reduction in, for example, thickness and weight thereof, liquid crystal display units find wide application in a variety of fields including liquid crystal display televisions, monitors, and mobile phones. Various techniques for realizing colorization of such a liquid crystal display unit have been proposed. Examples of practical techniques include a color filter system and a field sequential system.
The color filter system displays images in full color by spatially mixing RGB color information by the use, in combination, of liquid crystal elements having the function of an optical shutter and a color filter in which spaces are divided into RGB three primary color regions so finely that they are imperceptible to the human eye.
On the other hand, the field sequential system has a layered structure composed of a backlight that can sequentially emit light of three colors: R, G, and B, and liquid crystal elements that display color information according to the color of light emitted by the backlight. This system displays images in full color by temporally mixing RGB color information by reducing the duration of the period during which the backlight emits light of RGB to about 16 msec, which is so short that it is imperceptible to the human eye.
Patent Document 1 discloses a liquid crystal display unit that, despite being structured as a field sequential system, can display images in color by reflecting ambient light. Moreover, Patent Document 2 discloses a liquid crystal display unit provided with a reflective region composed of colored pixels and a transmissive region having no colored portion.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2004-061747    Patent Document 2: JP-A-2004-177726